Apparatus for aerating beer wort



' May 14, 1935.

K. BART'H El AL APPARATUS FOR AERATING BEER WORT Fi led Dec. 14, 1931 5Sheets-Sheet l J22 van 0/ 5.-

andzj; ll anjer May 14, 1935. K. BARTH EI'AL 2,001,564

' APPARATUS FOR AERATI ENG BEER WOR'I.

Filed Dec. 14, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 14, 1935. K. BARTH ET ALAPPARATUS FOR AERATING BEER WORT Filed Dec. 14, 1931 5 Sheets-$heet 4"Hun May 14, 1935 K. BARTH El AL.

APPARATUS FOR AERATING BEER WORT Filed Dec. 14, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 5Patented May 14, 1 935 I UNITED- sTATEs APr RATUs FOR AERATING BEER WORTKarl Barth and Karl Schuler, Munich, and Julius Wanger, Aubing, GermanyApplication December 14, 1931, Serial'No. 580,828

' 6 Claims; (01. 261119) Our invention relates-to a novel apparatus foraerating beer wort in breweries and consistsessentially therein that thesurface of the Wort is exposed to the actionof germ-free air atoverpressure. Further novel features of our invention consist in theprovision of-special apparatus and in the application of special methodsfor treating the wort in the aforementioned manner.- Our invention makesuse of the fact that open cooling floors and open spray-coolers areexpedients well-known in the .art of brewing, especially for the reasonthat with apparatus of the kind the wort will be kept in contact withlarge quantities of fresh air and the treatment of the wort may becarried out slowly and continuously. Our invention is further based onthe experience that the treatment of the wort with germ-free air must becarried out in open cooling floors and open spray-coolers, becauseotherwise eventually large quantities of injurious spores or diseasegerms may come into action to unfavorably affect the process of brewingandto impair the quality of the beer, such vas rendering the same cloudyor unable to be kept soundfor any length of time.

According to our invention we propose to close up the spaces in whichthe wort is treated within so-called open cooling floors and to supplygerm-free air at over-pressure to said spaces in a quantity larger thanthe quantity of air which may escape .at normal pressure through leaksor apertures. More particularly, according to our invention thegerm-free air is preferably'brought into contact with the surface of thewort :and carried along said surface in such a way that said air iscaused to propagate or spread'in theiorm of a veil or blanket along thesurface of the :wort. This procedure may be carried out irrespective ofwhether the surface of the wort is'positioned vertically, as is the casewith open spray-coolers, or whether the wort presents an horizontalsurface, as in case of open cooling floors.

The plants-in which the processof treating the wort is carried outaccording to our invention may be constructed in various ways. A mainfeature of a wort "treatment; plant constructed according to our presentinvention, accordingly, consists therein that we arrange said plantwithin a closed space which may either be large or small in accordancewith thesize of the plant.

In case of large plants and consequently large closed treatment spaces,according to our invention it will be preferable to' subdividethetreatment space in a special manner. (We have found 7 that'in suchcase it will be of advantage to pro vide vertical or horizontal narrowslots or rows of slots at the walls of said'closed treatment space andin proximity to the surface of the wort and to use pressure chambersoutside of said treatment space, said pressure chambers serving for thereception of germ-free pressure air per mitting the latter to passthrough the aforemen tionedslots or rows of slots and to propagate orspread in the form of a veil alongside the sur' face of the spray ofwort, in case of an open spray-cooler, or above the surface of the wort,in case a cooling floor is used. The air subsequent to propagating alongthe surface ofthe wort will thus be caused to be distributed throughoutthe closed treatment space and even-' tually also pass along the ceilingor cover of the space, thus putting the entire treatment space underover-pressure. The air may thereupon be discharged, if so desired, atspecial places.

It is alsopossible to branch off from the start of this procedure partsof the germ-free treatment air and'to carry these parts of air throughthe treatment space along the ceiling in order to keep the latter in drycondition. The ceiling of the treatment space according to our inventionmay also be constructed in the form of a cupola which will serve toprevent-water dropping from the ceiling and to facilitateconveying ofthe air currents towards the outlets;

In the accompanying drawings which form part of the specification wehave represented a number of examples of apparatus for carrying ourinvention into effect.

In the drawings Fig. l is a vertical section through a wort treatmentplant constructed according to our invention, Fig. 2 a transversesection along line 11-11 of Fig. '1, Fig. 3 a transverse section alongline III-III of Fig. 1, the line II in Fig.3 indicating the sectionaccording to Fig. 1, Fig. 4 a transverse section along line IV-IV- ofFig. 1, Fig. 5 a vertical section through a modified wort treatmentplant constructed according to our invention, Fig. 6 a transversesection along line VIVI ofFig. 5, Fig. 7 is a plan view taken on lineVII--VII of Fig. 5,Fig. 8 a vertical section through anothermodification of the wort treatment plant according toour invention, Fig.

.through the building I of a wort treatment plant e h q n he reatmenroomscording to our invention, said building having preferably walls ofwhich the several parts 2 are insulated in order that proper temperatureconditions may be maintained in the several chambers of the plant inwhich diiierent steps in the wort treatment process are being conducted.Within the treatment space 4 of the plant there is provided a fan I4with the suction apertures 3. The wall 9 of the treatment space 4 isprovided with perforations or apertures 8 which are filled up bygerm-tight air filters. The space 5 is positioned in front of the space4 and provided with air dampers or valves I3 and I8, oi which the formeris mounted within the aperture I2. Adjacent the space Sthere is afurther space having an aperture It at its under wall and an aperture I!at its upper wall, The valve 20 serves for closing up the aperture l6and in open condition may also serve for passing a current of air intothe space comprising one or several wort treatment chambers provided inthe plant. Within the space 50 there are mounted open 'sprayecoolers 22with under air supply channel 32 which are provided with rows of holesor slots permitting discharge of air in a direction opposite to thedirection of the spray of wort trickling down from the cooler 22. Theserows of holes or slots are not especially shown in the drawings. Airpassing through aperture I6 is directed by the valve 20 into one end ofthe channel 32, the other end of which is closed so that the air isforced to travel upwardly through slots in the upper wall of the channel32 and along the wort, as shown by arrQWs in Fig. 1. I1 is an airexhaust or discharge channel, I l a cooling floor in the space whichconstitutes another wort treatment chamber of e ant 2' a par g w l. e d.8 are air discharge valves which are provided within the roof of thebuilding. The channel I] s des n to d s har Por io f he ai from thechamber 5!! to the outside but in quanty u h. t pr er res ur of a ismain- If des a o ven on l o m oi ei al ma be se t ontr his assag o hstee a val e u h,v

es. h eh v lve l t e a alv '0 serves to vary the size of the aperture34. 23 is a door. Wi hi the inlet 21 en 4 ano he do r w th he esertere,as. s udy lett r deer serv ng o Pur ses f e eehih 'In Fig 2 the lateralprotective walls in front oi th r iseh ee a s 8 are sho n H- The lot oap r l5 ere ev nl istribu d as ma e seen i em' i' a- 'l'heater-stressetin va v s. .ser uni or l di t bu e the r tmen ai n he or oa v along. the suri ee of the w n he oool nafie II. There i f rt e rovded a hamb o i e neee ith val es 3! th re wh ch m y or h sta e s r e too era h o l n appa tus it out e e n e coo n ace The e nstructions of thewort treatment plant shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 serve for carrying;through the novel process of. ger -f ae a i n w i h forms part of ourpresent invention.

Acc rd n to our invention now, the air, as shown by arrows, drawn in bymeans of a fan It through the aperture 3; and pressed through hefllt sin the wall 8.. h e a d r is. fr ed from dust and other contaminationsor impuris s. u h s spor rms r th like. Ev ntually the air may be al opreliminarily cooled and. dried. subsequently the air entersthe pace .5

from which it is distributed in accordance with the position of the airvalves I3 and In in the apertures I2 and 34 to the space 60 underneaththe cooling floor II and to the space 6, respectively. The spaces 5, 6,60 and 50, therefore, will be permanently kept filled with germ-free airat over-pressure. This air may enter on the one hand the space 50 of thespray-cooler from the pressure chamber through the slots or rows ofapertures in 32 forming air admission channels and on the other handdischarge through the aforementioned slots or apertures I5 which asshown in Fig. 2 are arranged in proximity to the ceiling for thepurposeof maintaining the ceiling substantially free of moisture. By deliveringthe air under pressure to the'space I it is obliged to travel across theunderside of the cooling floor before being deflected into contact withthe wort onthe exposed upper surface of the floor. This arrangementinsures a variable rate of cooling of the wortsince the air is in asensepreheated hr first com ng n contact wi h the und i e of the coolingfloor to an extent dependent upon the prevailing temperature of thewort, and thus as the wort becomes'cooler the air is preheated to a lessextent and thereiore has agreater cooling eiiect on the wort during thefinal stages of V the process. From the pressure chamber underneath thecooling floor the germ free air now ay d arge along the af r m nti nedre ut in valv s 33 past the cooling floor.

From the drawings it may be seen that the space in which contains thespray-cooler as well as the space 60 which contains the cooling floorare closed all around. Furthermore the crosssection of the air dischargechannel H as well as the cross-section of the air discharge valves t an!S are smalle than the crosse t f he air admission channel. Inconsequence of th s. the ge m free air w l permanently e k pt underover-pressure. In this manner provisions are made that air can. onlyescape. t wa d the outside through leaks, such as crevices at thewindows and the like, thus avoiding with certai ty s y presence of,impuritie an g m in the air which serves for the treatment of the Q T she di c ar e ape tures o the p e su hambers re o the orm of slots orrows of. holes.

mree pres e. a r wi enter the t atm nt ac in he term of a ve l or lankend coverp he wor eon ein d in. Mo e p rticulary. th e m-tr r r air i firpass a on all c ol ng u faces of the. wort and thereupon fill up thetreatment spaces owing to the, overpressure h ch is main a n d ccordingto our nven io n he pre u chamber. Further air such as issuing from theslots {5 may be caused to pass along the ceiling of the treatment spaceswhich air may also be, pre-heated -in order to keep said ceiling, andespecially the ceiling of the space in which the wort is treated byspraycoolers, in dry condition. 7

In the foregoing we have fully described the apparatus for the germefreeaeration of the wort as hown in F g 1- as w l as the m e of ope aqh saidapparat s. and t e fo on y a general description is given in thefollowing or the examples. o eeh r e nq shown in 5-41.

Figs. 5, 6 and '1; show {r construction of our wort eatm nt lan hi h omrise ins ad or the a r sup y chann ls 32., o s as provided la eral y inthe. all at the resence sreee said slots Lil only. within a part of theheight of the treatment space, said walls 31 being provided with valves38 at their upper ends. There is further provided a wall of masonry workat the two longitudinal edges of the cooling floor as shown in Fig. 6,said walls forming a pressure chamber underneath said cooling floor.

The further modified construction as shown in Figs. 8, 9, 10 and. 11 isdesigned especially for large wort treatment plants. As shown in thesefigures, the treatment space is of the form of a large hall with rowsofcooling floors, each row comprising three cooling floors. In order tomaintain with certainty the over-pressure of the air within this halland to be able tolimit said over-pressure in an economical manner tothat part of the plant in which it is desired at a time, according toour invention we propose to separate the several cooling floors fromeach other by transverse walls in a manner to produce several closedtreatment spaces. There is further shown in Fig. 9 a wall positioned inproximity to the cooling floors and extending in longitudinaldirectionthereof, thus forming a separate passage or corridor from which theseveral cooling floors may be attended. In this manner there will beprovided within the large hall longitudinal and transverse floors orpassages closed all around permitting to carry out the process accordingto our invention within the several spaces of the hall without in anyway disturbing the operation of the plant during attendance and by draftof air caused thereby. Furthermore the walls of the hall are providedwith large panes or said walls may also be made entirely of glasspermitting to easily and carefully supervise the several phases of theprocess within the several spaces for the cooling floors.

The mode of operation of the plant shown in Figs. 5, 6 and '7 and of theplant shown in Figs. 8, 9, l and 11 is not principally different fromthat of the plant shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and l.

In Figs. 8, 9, l0 and 11 the air at over-pressure is admitted insubstantially the same manner as described in connection with Figs. 1and 2, that is, it is admitted beneath the cooling floor in eachcompartment and after passing along this floor it is directed over theupper surface of the wort in a continuous film overlying the entireextent of the surface of the wort and thence through the openingscontrolled by the dampers i8.

With respect to the channels, slots, air flaps and air discharge organsmentioned hereinabove we desire it to be understood that these deviceshave been mentioned for the purpose of exemplification only. Principallythese devices may of course also be diiferent from those describedherein and shown in the drawings and modified in accordance with specialrequirements. Moreover, the aforementioned devices may be made of stone,sheet metal or any other structure materials. Also the construction andgeneral arrangement of the above mentioned fan may be different from theconstruction and arrangement described herein and shown in the drawings.Furthermore, instead of the above mentioned germ-tight air-fi1ters whichmay consistof cloth or metal, there may'also be used air washers and inaddition, it will also be possible to use air-washers in connection withgerm-tight metal filters. One or, more special heating plantsmay also beconnected with the treatment plant and maybe used at places where thisshould be desirable. I

In. the last-described constructionof plant, air admission slots mayalso be provided-in case there should be a demand..alongside.the windowswhich lead to the several cooling floors to permit passage of dry andpure air past said windows to protect the latter against getting fogg-edby action of the veils of air within the treatment space.

The invention claimed herein consists in the apparatus herein shown anddescribed, the method being claimed in a pending divisional application,filed December 29, 1932, under Serial No. 649,398.

We claim: I

1. A treatment plant for the manufacture of beer wort, comprising a roomhaving a cooling floor for containing beer wort, a plurality ofcompartments beneath said room each in communication with the other, anair pressure fan in one compartment,- for forcing air through the othercompartment and room, and means intermediate the compartments forfiltering air passed through said compartment and room, avalve-controlled conduit between the compartments in communication withthe room, and air discharge means in the room controlling the escape ofair therefrom, the air in said room being under positive pressureanddistributed uniformly over the beer wort as a closed veil on saidcooling floor.

2. In a treatment plant for beer wort, the combination of a coolingfloor for the wort, walls enclosing said cooling floor to form a closedwort treatment space around the cooling floor, an air pressure chamber,means for delivering air under pressure from the air chamber to theclosed wort treatment space adjacent to the underside of the coolingfloor, and means cooperating with the,

cooling floor constraining the flow of air across the underside of thecooling floor and thence directing it over the exposed surface of thewort on the upper side of the floor whereby to regulate the coolingaction of the air in accordance with the temperature of the wort.

3. In a treatment plant for beer wort, the combination of walls forminga closed wort treatment space around the beer wort, a cooling fioor,means for supplying germ-free air to said closed treatment space, saidmeans including slots at opposite ends of the cooling floor, said slotsbeing positioned in proximity to the surface of the wort and being sodisposed as to direct the germ-free air over the surface of the wort.

i. In a treatment plant for beer wort, the com bination of a coolingfloor for wort, walls forming a closed wort treatment space around saidcool'- ing floor, a pressure chamber containing. germfree air atover-pressure, conduits for supplying said air to said closed treatmentspace, means cooperating with the cooling floor for uniformlydistributing the air in the form of a closed veil over the surface ofthe'cooling floor and means.

for controlling the pressure and flow of the air admitted to the worttreatment space.

5. In a treatment plant for beer wort, the com 7 space in proximity tothe surface of the wort, and further means" for passing air atover-pressure 6."A treatment plant for beer wort comprising acompartment having a'cooling floor for wort therein, a secondcompartment in communication withthe first compartment, a compartmenthaving a, spray coolerfor wort. therein in communic'ationwith the secondmentioned compartment, means-in the second mentioned compartment forforcing'air under positive pressure i'nt'o'the other compartments, meansfor cleansing said air, and valved conduits for directing the. cleansedair into eitherthe-spray cooling compartment or the cooling floorcompartment or both, and means in the first compartment for restrictingthe escape of air whereby the air in said compartment is under positivepressure and overlying the wort on the cooling floor. V I

KARL BARTH. KARL SCHULER.

JULIUS WANGER. Q

